Seriously, though, the 5-7-5 thing with haiku is just a starting point for kids, but somehow it has become ingrained.

It's like how in Little League the coach will teach you to never slide head first into the bag, yet, as we know when watching MLB, this is a "rule" that is more for the safety of kids and can be broken with great effect.

With haiku, often forcing the 17 syllables can create a situation where you end up forcing too many images.

For example, this is a poor haiku:

A cricket disturbed
the sleeping child; on the porch
a man smoked and smiled.

But it fits the pattern.

Conversely, this is a much better haiku that doens't fit the pattern:

Clouds -
a chance to dodge
moonviewing.

With that said, though, I think my previous one can be made better by changing one word that ends up putting it in the 5-7-5